ʽAttan

Not to be confused with Attan.

ʽAttan (Arabic: عطان ‘Aţţān), also transliterated as ʽIttan and known historically as ʽAḍudān, is a village in Bani Matar District of Sanaa Governorate, Yemen.^[1][2] It is a short distance southwest of Sanaa, with the two being separated by a long, low hill.^[2]

ʽAttan عطان
Village
ʽAttan Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 15.31392°N 44.17808°E / 15.31392; 44.17808[1]
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Sanaa
District	Bani Matar
Elevation [1]	7,785 ft (2,373 m)
Time zone	UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time)

Name and history

According to Robert T.O. Wilson, the older form of the name ʽAttan was ʽAḍudān, as it appears in most historical sources.^[2] Both forms are found in the works of the 10th-century writer al-Hamdani, although never in the same one.^[2] Wilson also pointed to the name of the Fajj ʽAttan, a prominent landform in the hill between ʽAttan and Sanaa, as most likely being the same as the Fajj ʽAḍudān mentioned by al-Razi.^[2]

In addition to al-Hamdani and al-Razi, ʽAttan was mentioned by the geographers al-Bakri and Yaqut al-Hamawi, as well as in the historical accounts by Yahya ibn al-Husayn, Muhammad ibn Hatim al-Yami al-Hamdani, and Ali ibn Muhammad al-Abbasi.^[2] It was the site of a fortress.^[2]